The First Special
by peacekeeper364
Summary: When a surgeon named Zachary is told to make a girl named Ally different from any other pretty, he jumps at the chance. But soon, his "special" creation starts to go out of control...


**Author's Note:** Please R&R. I might add more chapters if people like it :)

She was never supposed to exist.

When I really think about it, though, I guess it was going to happen eventually. Ever since the beginning of the pretty surgeries that cause brain lesions, some pretties have needed to be a little bit better than others. Wardens, scientists and firefighters all need to be free of the lesions to perform their jobs. So they are, in their own way, special.

Yes, somebody was going to do it, I just can't believe it was me.

She was supposed to be just like every other pretty. She was a normal girl named Ally. She was maybe a little bit rebellious, but she was basically normal. She planned to have her surgery two weeks ago, on her sixteenth birthday, where she would have her face and body transformed from the regular ugliness of childhood into the prettiness of regular adults.

But times are changing, and somebody with a lot of authority decided that we need to make new pretties to control the uglies who are testing our city's boundaries. I was asked to do something different. I, as one of the city's surgeons, was told to make this girl… "special".

They said that it would only take a few little adjustments. She had to be a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, and a lot smarter. She had to look just as beautiful as a pretty, but she also had to look cruel enough to demand immediate respect. This girl had to be a new kind of pretty, one who could look at the world with the cold, hard mind of a scientist, the care for humanity over individuals that is present in wardens. It was a welcome challenge for me, a break from the regular, pretty, bubblehead surgeries.

When she came out of the surgery, I have to admit that I was proud. Ally was exactly what was needed, what was expected from me as a surgeon, and she was perfect.

But things quickly started going wrong.

Ally was too strong, too fast, and too smart. She was special and she knew it. We tried to keep her in the room that we had designed for her, but she started to claw at the walls with her amazingly strong nails and teeth. Our world has only ever known complacent pretties and neither the people nor the fancy looking (but surprisingly weak) architecture were ready for special little Ally.

Today, we are looking for her, combing the woods outside the city and the greenbelt that separates Uglyville from the suburbs, searching for our special girl. She is wild, the logic goes, so she will want to be somewhere full of trees and wild plants. Surgeons and wardens search frantically, all saying that they are concerned for the safety of the people and Ally herself. But if Ally is never found, they will still have jobs. They will know that they are safe and that even if the city is in danger, it is not their fault. I have no such security. If Ally is really gone, then everything rests on my shoulders. I will be the one who takes the blame.

We reach the top of a small hill and I collapse, my spirits weary and my legs seeming to break under my weight. We've been searching for hours. _This is hopeless,_ I think. _We'll never find her._

It's at that very moment, as I start to lose hope, that I see my answer. Just beyond the city's boundaries, the rusty ruins reach skyward, glinting in the light of the setting sun. Maybe Ally doesn't want to hide among trees, maybe she wants to hide among metal. Maybe she's in the rusty ruins.

Thanks to a very kind warden and his fast patrol car, I make it to the rusty ruins in just one hour. "Are you sure about this, Zachary?" the warden asks. "It seems unlikely that this creation of yours would want to live in a place like the rusty ruins. She's so wild. Wouldn't she rather live in the woods?"

"We've already checked the woods," I say. "And she's obviously not in the city. This is the only place left."

The warden sighs. "All right," he says. "You know more about her than I do. Go ahead and look, I'll stay with the car."

I nod and turn to the expanse of metal. I walk slowly through the ruins, my footsteps echoing around the ghost town, until I find one building that towers above the others. It reaches towards the sky like a giant hand. This must be where Ally is hiding. I'm not sure how I know, but I do.

I cautiously start climbing, being careful not to touch anything sharp. There's no need to get any kind of infection. Level by level I scramble up, avoiding the gaping holes in the metal flooring and any supports that look like they might collapse. I have to stop a couple of times, the ascent wearing down on my already tired body, and I have to make sure that I never look down. Finally, I reach the highest level of the structure that hasn't been completely rusted away.

I suppose I know Ally even better than I realize. She sits on the other side of the level, her back turned to me, watching the faraway lights of the city. She is crouched like some kind of animal, as if waiting for something to happen. I was right about where she was hiding. She found the tallest man-made building she could and climbed it. She wants to be able to see everything, to keep watch over the city.

"Ally," I say, reaching a hand out to her. She spins around suddenly, her luminescent green eyes focusing on me like I'm some kind of prey. We both stand on part of the metal flooring, but there is a yawning hole between us and no way for me to cross it. The only way I can think that Ally might have been able to get over to where she is would be by walking along the rusty structural supports. With the balance that she has, it's definitely possible. "Ally, come with me."

Ally shakes her head, staring at me with dazzling eyes. "No," she whispers, just loudly enough for me to hear.

Her voice sends shivers down my spine. Whether they are shivers of pride or fear, I wouldn't be able to tell you. The cruelty that was asked for is definitely there, not just in her face, but in her tone. "Ally," I say, still holding out my hand. "You have to come with me. You belong in the city."

Ally lets out a sound that is something between a refusal and a growl.

I hear something like a shout below me and risk a curious look down. The warden searches the ruins, probably second guessing his decision to let me search the twisted metal city by myself. He can't see us, but seeing him reminds me of something that was said to me when the search first began.

_Ally is wild. Ally is uncontrollable and cannot be used. If she doesn't cooperate with efforts to bring her back into the city, then she must simply be destroyed. The city cannot have her running around free, it's too dangerous._

I sigh, standing up as straight as I can. With trembling hands, I reach into the pocket of my coat and withdraw a long, serrated knife. I have no idea what it's made of but, whatever it is, it's strong enough to cut through anything. It's the only weapon in the world that would even put a dent in Ally's skin.

"Ally," I whisper, my voice cracking a little bit. I clear my throat and start again. "Ally, I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. You have to come with me."

Ally lets out a short little laugh, her eyes turning into emerald half-moons as she does. "Hurt me?" she hisses. "You can't hurt me. I know what I am. I know what you made me into. I am indestructible. I am perfect. I am stronger than any weapon you have. You can't hurt me." She stands up as she speaks, transforming into a threatening shadow against the lights of the city.

I shudder. Her voice is crueller than I ever could have imagined. "I can hurt you Ally. But I don't want to and I don't have to. You can just come with me and everything will be okay."

Ally shakes her head. "Silly little pretty," she whispers. "I am not as gullible as you think I am. Everything will not be okay. It never will be. I'm not like everybody else. Whatever you want me to do, it doesn't matter. I'm staying here, where I can watch the world. Somebody needs to make sure you don't destroy yourselves again."

"Ally," I snap, my patience starting to run out. "Pretties don't just run off into the rusty ruins to live in skyscrapers and watch the city after their surgery."

She shrugs. "This is a special circumstance," she says. "I'm no ordinary pretty. You of all people should know that."

"If you don't come with me now, I will kill you," I shout, raising the knife above my head.

There is a long silence. Ally doesn't move for a moment. We stand there, across from each other, completely still. Then she starts to laugh. Her cackle fills the night air for what seems like an eternity as I stand, dumbfounded, with the blade held over my head. "You wouldn't be able to kill me," she declares when her laughter finally starts to fade. "Even if you tried."

I don't even realize that she has moved until I start to fall. My back hits the metal floor with a thud, the force of the impact throwing the knife from my hand across the floor. It teeters on the edge of the flooring for a moment before falling to the ground outside. I try to stand, but something is holding me down.

"Not so easy, is it?" Ally hisses into my ear. "Killing a special girl like me." Her knee pushes against my stomach and I cry out for help.

"Here's what you are going to do," she continues in a whisper. "You are going to go back there and tell them that you found me, that I'm not as wild as you thought, that the surgery was a success. You see, I have a plan, but I need more people like me to get it done."

"What… what's your plan?" I gasp as her knee pokes farther into my stomach, sending waves of pain through my body.

"There have always been special circumstances," Ally whispers. I swear I can hear her smiling. "Uglies that play too many tricks and pretties that don't do as they're told. But nobody ever knows how to deal with them. If there were others like me, we could handle those extraordinary situations."

"And what if I don't?" I ask. "What if I tell everybody that you're a monster and that your surgery should never be performed again?"

"I'll kill you."

My heart starts to race. "You wouldn't," I snap.

Ally laughs. "My teeth can rip through a wall," she says. "Killing you would be absolutely no problem." With that, she presses down on my arms with her strong hands and kneels on my chest. The pain increases and I suddenly find it hard to breathe.

"Fine," I shout, my eyes watering. "I'll do what you want."

The pressure lifts off my chest and I gasp. "Good boy," Ally whispers. "This is for the best, you'll see. People like me will change the world." She hops down from level to level until she reaches the ground. I hear the echoes of her footsteps as she races into the night.

My special little girl…


End file.
